Flora & Fauna Crochet Square

I’m so excited to take part in Julie Yeager’s Block-a-Week Crochet Along project! Granny squares are one of my favorite things to design, and I enjoyed being able to play with lots of fun stitches to create the Flora & Fauna Crochet Square.

Crochet block with dahlias

I worked on the design just after attending the annual CGOA Chain Link conference, armed with lots of new stitch ideas. I was thrilled to have the chance to put them to use in this square.

My favorite new stitch that I learned is the linked treble crochet. It’s like a miniature Tunisian stitch, that creates a dense, but textured fabric. If it’s new to you, I hope you have fun giving it a try!

*Note, I will be updating this post with step-by-step photos for some of the tricky steps, and with a link to a Ravelry download in the near future.

Intro

Yarn: Worsted/Aran weight (#4 Medium) in 5 colors (approximately 80 g total), Shown here: Paintbox Cotton Aran (100% cotton; 50g, 85m) in Vintage Pink (A); Pistachio Green (B); Vanilla Cream (C); Tea Rose (D); Blush Pink (E), 1 ball each

Hook: US I (5.5 mm)

Finished Size: 12” 

Stitch Guide

2-dc cluster: [Yarn over, insert hook in stitch and pull up a loop, yarn over and draw through 2 loops] twice. Yarn over and draw through remaining 3 loops.

3-dc cluster: [Yarn over, insert hook in stitch and pull up a loop, yarn over and draw through 2 loops] three times. Yarn over and draw through remaining 4 loops.

Back loop (BL): Work stitch(es) in the back loop only of the indicated stitch.

Beg 3-dc cluster: Ch 2, [yarn over, insert hook in stitch and pull up a loop, yarn over and draw through 2 loops] twice. Yarn over and draw through remaining 3 loops.

Beg linked treble crochet (beg linked tr): Ch 4, insert hook in 2nd ch from hook, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook in 3rd ch from hook, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook in 4th ch from hook, yarn over and pull up a loop (4 loops on hook), [yarn over, draw through 2 loops on hook] 3 times.

Beg puff st: Insert hook in stitch, pull up a loop to approximately dc height, [yarn over, insert hook into same stitch and pull up a loop] 4 times (9 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through 9 loops. Ch 1 to close the stitch.

Double crochet (dc): Yarn over, insert hook in stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, (yarn over and draw through 2 loops) twice.

Front-post single crochet (fpsc): Insert hook from front to back to front around the post of the indicated stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop. Yarn over and draw through 2 loops on hook.

Front-post treble crochet (fptr): Yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of the indicated stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop, [yarn over, draw through 2 loops on hook] 3 times.

Half-double crochet (hdc): Yarn over, insert hook in stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and draw through 3 loops on hook.

Linked treble crochet (linked tr): Insert hook in top horizontal bar of previous st, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook in bottom horizontal bar of previous st, yarn over and pull up a loop, insert hook in next st, yarn over and pull up a loop (4 loops on hook), [yarn over, draw through 2 loops on hook] 3 times. See video from Moogly for an example.

Picot: Ch3, sl st to 1st ch.

Puff stitch (puff st): Yarn over, insert hook into indicated stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, [yarn over, insert hook into same stitch and pull up a loop] 3 times (9 loops on hook), yarn over and draw through 9 loops. Ch 1 to close the stitch.

Single crochet (sc): Insert hook in stitch. Yarn over and pull up a loop. Yarn over and draw through 2 loops.

Instructions

Notes: All joins at beginning and end of rounds are made with sl st unless otherwise noted.

Rnd 1: With A, into adjustable ring, beg 3-dc cluster, ch 2, *3-dc cluster, ch 2; repeat from * 6 times, join to beg 3-dc cluster. Fasten off A. (8 3-dc cluster, 8 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 2: Join B in any ch-2 sp, *[ch 3, 2-dc cluster, ch 3, 2-dc cluster, ch 3, sl st] in ch-2 sp, sl st into next ch-2 sp; repeat from * around1. Fasten off B. (16 sl st, 16 2-dc cluster, 8 ch-3 sp, 16 ch 3)

1Work final sl st of the rnd into the same ch-2 sp as the join.

Rnd 3: Join C in last st of Rnd 2, *sc in sl st, ch 4 (working behind sts of Rnd 2), sk [ch 3, 2-dc cluster, ch 3, 2-dc cluster, ch 3, sl st]; repeat from * around, join to first sc. Do not fasten off. (8 sc, 8 ch-4 sp)

Rnd 4: Sl st into ch-4 sp, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), 3 hdc in same sp, 4 hdc in each ch-4 sp around, join to first hdc. Fasten off C. (32 hdc)

Rnd 5: Join A in BL of same st as join, *sc in BL of next 4hdc, fptr around 3-dc cluster of Rnd 1 below; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off A. (32 sc, 8 fptr)

Rnd 6: Join C in BL of same st as join, *sc in BL of next 2 sts, sc in ch-3 sp of Rnd 2 below, sc in BL of next 3 sts; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off C. (48 sc)

Rnd 7: Work this entire rnd in BL. Join D in any sc worked into Rnd 2, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next st, puff st in next 2 sts, hdc in next 2 sts, *hdc in next 2 sts, puff st in next 2 sts, hdc in next 2 sts; repeat from * to end, join to first hdc. Fasten off D. (32 hdc, 16 puff sts)

Rnd 8: Join E in puff st to the left of the join, *sc in puff st, sc in ch-1 sp2, sc in next puff st, sc in next ch-1 sp2, sc in next hdc, ch 4, [puff st, ch 3, puff st, picot, ch 3, puff st] between next 2 puff sts, ch 4; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off E. (20 sc, 12 puff sts, 4 picot, 8 ch-4 sp, 8 ch-3 sp)

2These are the ch-1 used to close the puff sts.

Rnd 9: Join B in BL of same st as join, *sc in next BL of next 5 sts, 4 sc in ch-4 sp, fpsc around next puff st, 3 sc in ch-3 sp, (sc, ch 2, sc) in picot, 3 sc in next ch-3 sp, fpsc around next puff st, 4 sc in ch-4 sp; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off B. (84 sc, 8 fpsc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 10: Join A in any ch-2 sp, ch 4 (counts as hdc, ch 2), hdc in same sp, *hdc in BL of each st to next ch-2 sp, (hdc, ch 2, hdc) in ch-2 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting (hdc, ch 2, hdc) on final repeat, join to 2nd ch of initial ch-4. Fasten off A. (100 hdc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 11: Join C in any ch-2 sp, beg linked tr, *linked tr in each st to next ch-2 sp, [2 linked tr, ch 2, tr, linked tr] in ch-2 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting [tr, linked tr] on final repeat, join to top of initial ch-4. Fasten off C. (112 linked tr, 4 tr, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 12: Join D in any ch-2 sp, ch 4 (counts as hdc, ch 2), hdc in same sp, *hdc in next 2 sts, (dc in top horizontal bar of next st, hdc in next 3 sts) 6 times, dc in top horizontal bar of next st, hdc in next 2 sts, (hdc, ch 2, hdc) in next ch-2 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting (hdc, ch 2, hdc) on final repeat, join to 2nd ch of initial ch-4. Fasten off D. (96 hdc, 28 dc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 13: Join E in any ch-2 sp, *[puff st, ch 3, puff st, picot, ch 3, puff st] in ch-2 sp, ch 2, sk 2 sts, sc in next st, ch 3, sk 2 sts, sc in next st, (ch 3, sk 3 sts, sc in next st) 5 times, ch 3, sk 2 sts, sc in next st, ch 2, sk 2 sts; repeat from * to end, join to first puff st. Fasten off E. (12 puff sts, 4 picot, 36 ch-3 sp, 8 ch-2 sp, 32 sc)

Rnd 14: Join B in ch-3 sp following the join, *3 sc in ch-3 sp, ch 3, sk picot, 3 sc in next ch-3 sp, fpsc around puff st, 2 sc in ch-2 sp, (3 hdc in next ch-3 sp) 7 times, 2 sc in ch-2 sp, fpsc around puff st; repeat from * to end, join to first sc. Fasten off B. (40 sc, 8 fpsc, 4 ch-3 sp, 84 hdc)

Rnd 15: Join A in any ch-2 sp, [ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc, ch 2, 2 dc] in ch-3 sp, *dc in BL of each st to next ch-3 sp, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in ch-3 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) on final repeat, join to first dc. Fasten off A. (148 dc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Rnd 16: Join E in any ch-2 sp, [ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc, ch 2, 2 dc] in ch-2 sp, *sk 1 st, dc in each st to next ch-2 sp, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in ch-2 sp; repeat from * to end, omitting (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) on final repeat, join to first dc. Fasten off E. (160 dc, 4 ch-2 sp)

Weave in all ends.

Partial Square

Congrats on finishing up your Flora and Fauna Crochet Square! For fun, I made an additional block stopping at Round 13. I rather like the look of this one too, if I do say so myself!

Flora and Fauna Crochet Square

I’m looking forward to seeing your beautiful color combinations for the Flora and Fauna Crochet Square on social media. Tag your works with #floraandfaunasquare so we can all see!

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